A new agency promised in the programme for Government to cut hospital waiting lists and waiting times in emergency departments has just been established, it was announced today.
The "special delivery unit" is being led for the first six months by Dr Martin Connor, who had success in reducing waiting lists when he set up a similar unit in Northern Ireland.
Dr Connor said, however, the unit was "not a magic bullet". He said it would act as a catalyst for change and that it was possible to make significant improvements even at a time of constrained resources by doing things differently.
He said it was his first day in his new job and no targets had been set yet for the unit.
Its first priority though will be to tackle waiting times in emergency departments. Then inpatient waiting lists will be tackled, followed by outpatient waiting lists.
The special delivery unit does not have a specific budget but the funding given to the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF), which up to now has been responsible for arranging private treatment for public patients waiting over three months for operations, will come under its remit. No new exchequer funding has been allocated to the unit.
The NTPF is hosting discussions with Dr Connor and the Department of Health on how it will go about its work in future. The Minister for Health James Reilly stressed at a press conference in Government buildings this afternoon that reports of its (the NTPFs) demise had been greatly exaggerated.
He said its role would change and it had been asked to cease further commitments to patients until the special delivery unit was in place and decided how best resources to cut waiting lists should be used. Some of its budget will now be diverted to tackle waiting times in emergency departments.
Dr Connor, who also joins the new interim board of the HSE, will be
based in the Department of Health and will report directly to Dr Reilly.
Fianna Fail spokesperson on Health Billy Kelleher expressed "serious concerns" about the level of information being provided on the setting up of the new agency.
"The Minister provided no details today on how the unit will be funded other than that funds from the NTPF will be diverted to the new unit." Mr Kelleher said the Minister "muddied the waters further" during a television interview this evening and "appeared to signal that the NTPF may continue to take applications, even after the establishment of this new quango".
"There was no information today on how long it will take for the SDU to be set up. We are concerned that patients will be faced with further delays while this SDU is being set up and how long it will be before the unit starts having an impact on waiting lists?", Mr Kelleher asked.
"Will patients be faced with increased waiting lists in the meantime? Without this information, all we know is that it looks like another level of bureaucracy is being introduced, and that would be a retrograde step," he added.
Latest HSE figures show there were more than 25,000 public patients waiting more than three months for inpatient
and day case procedures at the end of March. Its estimated another 200,000 patients are on outpatient waiting lists. And today the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said there were 409 patients on trolleys in emergency departments.
In a statement the NTPF said it looks forward to playing a part in the revised arrangements which are being put in place to deal with public patients on waiting lists.
"The most important priority has, and will continue to be, to reduce waiting times nationally and to get patients treated as soon as possible. The expertise and resources of the NTPF will now be directed towards supporting the work of the new special delivery unit and the effort to continue to reduce waiting times in the public hospital system," it said.